


Four Stages of Healing

by E_IdkwhatImdoing



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Attempt at Humor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, POV Jaskier | Dandelion, Protective Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Protective Jaskier | Dandelion, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Witch Curses, Wolf Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Young Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Young Jaskier | Dandelion, well for a witcher at least
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27655109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/E_IdkwhatImdoing/pseuds/E_IdkwhatImdoing
Summary: Young Jaskier is recently disowned and thrown out by his family when he comes across a wounded white wolf in the dead of night. Alone and scared, he finds an unlikley companion in the strange beast. He takes on the task to heal this White Wolf, and together go on a journey through the Four Stages of Healing. (As found on a vet site on dogs- same same right?)Includes overly used tropes such as:*First Words Soulmate Mark!*Wolf!Geralt!*Hella Gay Jaskier!*Some angst and hurt/comfort but mostly fluff and attempts at humor!
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 16
Kudos: 113





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is just a SHORT PROLOGUE to see 1) if I can figure out how to work AO3, and 2) if anyone would actually be interested in reading this work. I will probably finish and post chapter 1 today as well, but rn I'm just impulsively posting the start of it, AKA prologue I guess... Idk what I'm doing please have mercy. Also, english is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes!
> 
> Please enjoy! :)

In the dead of night on a usually deserted path in the thick forest between a town and a village a young man, more of a boy really, walks alone. The quiet whistle of the wind through the leaves works as a background noise to his sniffles and weak hiccups. His feet drag slightly in the gravel as he walks. The boy's belongings consist of little more than his lute and the clothes on his back. 

The breeze is cold enough to redden his tear stained cheeks even more. Small shivers run down his frame and he crosses his arms across his chest and tucks his cool fingers under his armpits in an attempt to fight off the cold. He knows he should set up camp somewhere, find some water, make a fire, but he doesn't know how. He really should have listened more to the hunters his father has hired over the years. "Fuck…" his normally smooth voice is scratchy and tired from the crying, and the boy frowns before he clears his throat a couple of times. He’s been walking for hours straight now, and has hours yet to go.

Just as the boy's legs feel too heavy to continue, and the moon has reached its peak in the sky he hears a whimper ahead of him. He stills, eyes searching among the darkness in the woods. Another whimper reaches his ears and his eyes snap to the right. This time the whimpering doesn't ease. It sounds pained and scared and it tugs and the boys heart strings. He sniffles quietly and takes a tentative step towards the noises. Through the trees he can just barely make out a small clearing and, guessing that's where the sad sound is coming from, he heads there. His footsteps dull as he steps off the pebbles and dirt of the road and onto overgrown grass and floral. Tree branches tickle his arms and he vaguely thinks of the condition of his expensive coat. All his thoughts are thrown out though as he steps into the clearing and sees what's making the pitiful noises. Across from him, just at the edge of the clearing, curled up and licking at its back leg is a great white wolf. Its beautiful fur is matted in places with something thick and black and the small whimpers grow more and more frustrated as the beast bites at its hindquarter. The boy takes a small step forwards and the movement makes the wolf twist its head towards him. The animal snarls, showing off its black teeth, and growls at the intruder. 

The boy stops cold and throws his hands up, "Whoah, hey there, big guy… big fluffy guy, more like it.” He mumbles the last part as an afterthought. “ I don't mean you any harm." He takes another hesitant step, "You don't look so good. Are you quite alright?" He babbles on, and though it might be his imagination it appears that the wolf is calming down a bit- almost as if it understands he means no harm. But that's probably all in his head, he is a hopeless romantic after all. As he slowly moves closer and closer he can see the broken off arrow in the wolf's leg, and he realises the black goo covering its fur and teeth is blood. The boy hasn't healed a thing in his life but damn it all if he isn't going to help this gorgeous creature if it's the last thing he does. Which it very well might be, the wolf is still snarling at him after all and even if the growling has died down he has no doubt that it will attack if he makes a wrong move. "That doesn't, uh, doesn't look very good. What do say I help you out a bit, huh? I might not know much but I can try, okay? If you'll let me." He's not quite sure why he's talking to the wolf but it seems to relax the both of them so he's not stopping anytime soon. When he's only a meter or so away from the beast he crouches down in front of it, and gently places his lute to the side in grass. The wolf closes its mouth, hiding those powerful canines from view. The boy lets out a deep breath. "I'm gonna let you smell now, okay? That's a thing, right? Letting a dog sniff you? Although, I guess you're not a dog." Nevertheless, he holds out his hand, knuckles first, towards the wolf with crazy blind hope that it doesn't chop his hand off. Luckily, after a tense moment where all the boy hears is his own heartbeat, it only sniffs at it a couple of times before a cold, wet nose pressed against his hand. The boy lets out a surprised laugh, a look of pure amazement across his face and grins at the wolf. 

"Okay, good, good boy. I'm gonna look at the wound now, alright?" As he speaks he shuffles closer and retracts his arm. The boy falls from his crouch to his knees. He takes a closer look at the wolf's leg, inspects it as best as he can in the darkness of the night. The arrow looks small, not that he knows much about arrows, and it shouldn't leave too big of a wound if he pulls it out. He tries to think of what to do after that, but can't remember ever learning it. Though, he figures, stopping the bleeding would be the next step. He shrugs out of his coat and overshirt to get to the white undershirt underneath. He untucks it from his pants in a hurry. He pulls at the edge of it and, to his relief, manages to rip a large tear from it fairly easily. 

The boy rolls up his sleeves to his elbows, "Okay big guy, I'm gonna pull the arrow out first, okay? And then I'll wrap your leg up nice and tight to stop the bleeding. Sound good? Good." With his right hand he gets a grip of the wood, and his left he puts on the wolf's leg to steady both himself and the animal. Finding no protest from the wolf, again to his amazement, he pulls the arrow out. It goes slow, and the wolf growls yet again, though to the boys ears it sounds different from the previous growl. He puts his all into it, but it seems pulling something out of flesh and skin and muscle is not as easy as you might think. Eventually, though, he gets it out and he's quick, albeit a bit fumbly, in getting the piece of fabric and lifting the beats leg to wrap it up. 

With bloody hands and shaking limbs the boy finishes his task, panting alongside the wolf. He pulls his legs out from underneath himself and sits fully on the dewy forest floor. His heart is beating rapidly, adrenaline spreading from his core all the way to his fingertips, leaving a tingly feeling behind. His mind too exhausted to think out his next move, but body on too high-alert to lay down and rest. He hears shuffling and focuses in on the wolf to see it nosing gently at the makeshift bandages, as if seeing it is up to standards. He really must be exhausted if his mind is conjuring such things up, it is only a wolf after all, not capable of such complex thought processes. He decides not to dwell on it any longer. He shuffles closer to the wolf's head and, carefully, very carefully, reaches out a hand to gently pet it's cheek. When all the wolf does is close its eyes in a so-far uncharacteristic display, the boy sums it up to fatigue from the wound and whatever it went through before he found it, and keeps tenderly stroking the thick, soft fur. After some time, he doesn't know how long- it could be hours, or it could be mere minutes, the wolf lies his head down and he follows soon after. Sleep overcomes them both.


	2. Stage One- Inflammation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the eventful first meeting. Jaskier gets his hands on a book and starts to figure out this healer thing, slowly but surely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!! This took way longer to finish than I planned on, corona really be messing shit up huh? Anyway, I hope you'll like it!! :)  
> (Disclaimer, I am not a veterinary or a medical professional in any way, this information is taken from a dog information site on the internet and has been edited by yours truly to fit the whole wolf thing)
> 
> Apologies for any spelling or grammar mistakes, english is not my first language :)

The first rays of morning sun pouring from the high trees into the clearing cast a golden light over the two forms. The boys typically brown hair turns a vibrant bronze color where it intertwines with shining white fur of the wolf's fluffy neck. As the sun reaches his eyes, disturbing his sleep, he lets out a groan and reveals his baby blues to the world. His head stays rested on the wolf's neck as he takes in his surroundings. He couldn’t see much in the dark last night, after all. The clearing is even prettier in the sunlight, with colorful fauna and excited butterflies, bees, and bumblebees. Lines about flower braided hair in early morning light and beautiful laughs fill the boy's mind and his fingers itch for his diverse collections of pens, scrolls and notebooks. Alas, all such sentimentalities are back in his childhood home, in the room that was his and his alone, spread out over desk, bed and floorspace. Left behind to never be touched again. Left behind to never be touched by him again. Excitement quickly turns to sorrow and the boy lets out a deep sigh as he sits up, shoulders slumping and expression falling. Before he gets pulled further into his head, he hears a low whine behind him and he swiftly turns around to inspect the wolf. The mighty beast pushes itself up on its front paws, whining all the while. With its front legs fairly stable below it, it moves on to getting its healthy right hind leg under itself. The boy watches with held breath as the movement drags its injured limb across the ground and the wolf howls in pain as it collapses back into the grass. The boy darts forward, but hesitates before touching the wolf, unsure of himself. His chest aches with the want, the need, to help. Frantically looking around for his discarded clothes he makes a decision. 

“Okay, I’m gonna head into the village. If I jog, I should be able to make it there and back in just a couple of hours- you’ll be fine for that time, won’t you?” His voice as frantic as his searching, he stops to look at the wolf as if expecting an answer. The wolf just glares back in return, still whining pitifully, leg twitching. “Yes, I know it hurts, and I’m so sorry I have to leave you but I need to get proper bandages and medicine, and, and, whatever else you need! I’ll figure it out, okay? Don’t worry.” He continues to babble on as he puts on his layers and grabs his lute, “I can play and sing and entertain for some money maybe? Yes, that should work.” Mind made up, logical thinking aside, he sets off back through the bush and onto the road. He feels bad leaving the white wolf behind, especially in such a state, who knows what could happen to it?! But, without the proper supplies the wolf might not make it at all- and he decided the second he laid eyes on the canine he would help it. And help it he will. Determination flooding his being, he nods to himself and sets off in a jog towards the village he has only visited by carriage in the past. 

The boy pants his way from market stall to market stall, hoping and praying to whichever godly deity that will listen that he will find what he needs. Checklist ready on his head he sets off on his quest of Shopping What He Needs To Keep The Wolfie Alive. The title’s still a work in progress. give him a break. Waistcoat buttons are traded in for a sturdy leather bag, silver rings are traded for bandages, salve and some strange herb mix the saleswoman swore would help. He even manages to sneak down some carrots from a farmers stall into the bag. and hurries off quickly before someone realises. At the end of the market, where stalls are thinning out and crowds are dispersing, he sees an old lady with stacks upon stacks of even older books. The poet in him thrives and he can’t help but scurry over and get his eyefill of such wonderful litterature. 

“Why hello there, young man. What can I do for you on this fine day?” The lady's voice is croaky but has a warmth to it, and her eyes pale but kind. 

“Oh, I’m just looking, thanks!” His eyes dart from book title to book title, logging the interesting information in the back of his head for future endeavours. While most books are stacked around the woman and her small stall, a few lie out on top of the counter. The boy picks up a simple blue book with a small golden flower embroidered on the cover. Flicking through the pages illustrated with various flowers with their common name, scientific name and their meaning. Longing in his chest, but knowing this is not the time for personal indulgences, he puts the book back down with a sad smile. A dark book cover in the corner of eyes draws his attention, and the boy points to a worn out cover behind the woman, “What’s that?”

“Hm?”, the woman looks behind her, “Oh, this old thing? It’s the ramblings of an old animal healer.” She grabs the book and hands it over to the youngling. “Filled to the brim with tips and tricks to healing the strangest of creatures, this one. Whomever wrote it was a big fan of carnivores- even claims to have conducted experiments on them to prove his healing tactics work. It’s so old though, that there’s just no way to know whether there’s any truth or not to any of it. Well, to his personal claims at least. I do believe that the facts have been proven by more modern healers.” The lady hums and mumbles a bit more to herself, but the boy is too busy flicking through the book with rapid attention. He stops at a page with a smudged drawing of a wolf howling at the moon, and below it in beautiful cursive is the chapter title The Four Stages of Canine Wound Healing. 

His eyes snap up to the saleswoman, “How much for it? I don’t have any coin but I can trade you something, or, or-” His borderline hysteric babbling is cut off quickly,

“Nonsense, this piece has been in my family for generations and has yet to intrigue anyone. It’s more of a burden nowadays, really. You can have it, little one. I have a feeling it’ll bring you more happiness than it evers has me.” There’s a knowing glint in her eyes, and a motherly smile on her lips. The boy beams, body almost shaking with excitement. 

“Thank you so much for your generosity! I’ll pay you back some day, I promise! I’ll make all the coin in the world playing my songs, you’ll see!” His voice joyous, and walk more skipping than anything, as he runs out of the market, out of the town square, out of the town's borders, and out on the dirt road again. The old lady just shakes her head and smiles after the boy.

The sun has risen to its peak and started its decline back down again by the time the boy makes it back to the clearing. As he approaches the covering bushes he slows down and stops to catch his breath. He hopes the wolf is still alright, worried that it may have taken off on its own while he was gone. He stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the concern that hunters came back for it. Ignorance is bliss, his family maid always said. He misses her.

Breath more even and heart no longer racing, he walks into the clearing. Relief fills his body, mind and soul- his entire being- when he sees the white furred beast where he left it early that morning. He scurries over with the supplies and his new book, and flops down on the ground next to the wolf, “Hey there big guy, I got you some proper bandages, and some medicine that’s going to help you feel much better, okay?” The wolf finally lifts his big head and looks at the boy. It seems exhausted, and it quickly lets its head fall back down, but this time turned towards the boy. The boy pulls out all his newly acquired belongings from the leather bag before tossing it aside. “Oh! And here, I managed to get some water from the towns well.” He scrambles to get the harness of the water pouch off of himself, and shuffles closer to the wolf's head. Popping open the pouch, he cups his hand and pours some water into it. “Come on big guy, you need to drink!” He pushes closer with his hands and splashes some water on the animal's nose. This finally causes a reaction and the wolf half-heartedly drinks water from the boy's hand, while the boy slowly refills his palm when necessary until the wolf flops his head back into the grass. Popping the cork back on and setting the pouch aside, the boy speaks up again, “I need to look at your leg, okay? I’ll try to be gentle, I promise.” His voice is soft, and the wolf has its ears turned towards him as he speaks. The boy feels like someone’s finally listening to him without prejudice. 

Hands careful, he starts unwrapping the make-shift bandages from last night. The white fabric has taken a dark red to pink coloration, and the boy gulps nervously. The last warp of the flimsy fabric is removed, and it flies with the wind for a second as it’s tossed aside, before landing gently in the grass. The boy looks at the wound, shaking with tightly concealed panic. The area around the wound is horribly swollen and red, and not just from the blood. The boy breathes shakily, “That can’t be good…” He’s mumbling to himself as he fumbles for the salve and bandages. Carefully, with trembling fingers, he gathers up some salve and starts to gently apply it to the wounded area. The first touch of skin makes the wolf growl, but it doesn't take long for the growl to turn into a whine. A worried frown creases the boy's forehead, and for a second he no longer looks so young and boyish. The skin around the wound, the boy notices, is much hotter than the rest of the wolf's body temperature. He shakes his way through the process of applying the salve, and once he’s finished he takes a deep breath before grabbing a roll of the bandages he purchased. The wolf whines and twitches with every touch as the boy wraps its hind leg. After what feels like hours to the buy but was most likely just a few minutes, he secures the wrapping and gently sets the leg back down. The wolf is still twitching, but it makes no sound. 

Slightly panicked, and more than slightly worried, the boy fumbles for the book, scrambling through the pages until he finds what he wants. The boy mumbles aloud to himself as he reads from the worn out pages,  
“The Four Stages of Wolf/Canine Healing:  
Step 1. Inflammation  
Step 2. Debri-” He stumbles on the world,” Debridement  
Step 3. Repair  
Step 4. Maturation”  
His eyes quickly scan the explanation of inflammation until he reaches the What it Looks Like subheading, where he starts reading again,  
“ Inflammation starts immediately after the wolf receives the wound. The five symptoms of inflammation are swelling, pain, redness, heat and immobility. That red and inflamed look is normal unless accompanied by high fever, excessive bleeding or streaking from the site of the wound.” The boy calms down at this,  
“It may take up to a week for inflammation to subside, depending on the severity of the wound and the overall health of the wolf. Make sure to also watch out for infection, the symptoms of which are also pain, redness and heat. If the wolf’s wound smells funky, it is probably infected.”

The boy spares a glance at the wolf, “You don’t smell bad, do you buddy? We did get pretty close and personal and I didn’t smell anything.” The boy can’t help the smile on his face, stress and concern taking a backseat after the confirmation that his wolf is fine. The wolf. Not his, this is a wild animal damn it! 

The boy continues reading, moving on to step 2 with rapid attention. “Debridement starts in a couple of hours after the wolf receives the wound. Debridement happens in one of two ways: if the wound is acute then those white blood cells that have flooded the wounded area then remove all foreign material from the wound, killing off infection causing bacteria, clearing debris and removing dead cells. This process occurs naturally and on a cellular level.  
However, if the wound or the skin surrounding is blue-black, leathery, thin or white, it is often associated with non viability, and necrotic tissue will have to be manually debrided.” Again, the boy checks off the symptoms in his head, having seen nothing wrong with the beast's skin.  
“You’re one lucky wolfie, huh?” The boy puts the book away with the rest of his belongings back in his bag. The wolf snorts and seems to glare at him, but the boy just shrugs for himself, grinning ear to ear. “You’re going to be just fine, beautiful. Juuust fine.” The boy lets out a big yawn and lays down alongside the wolf. As he turns on his side and faces the wolf, he sees a pair of bright yellow eyes fixed on him. “I know it’s still early, but I’ve had a long day, okay? I’ll just take a nap, and then I’ll try and find us something to eat, I promise.” His heavy eyes slide shut and the last thing he registers before sleep pulls him under is a warm breeze on his cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, first proper chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! Constructive criticism always welcome.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are much appreciated! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Soo, yeahh. Lemme know if you liked it, and I would love some constructive criticism as this is my first proper attempt at a fanfic.
> 
> Comments and Kudos much appreciated!


End file.
